The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1887-09-01

ton of the Croatans of the Presen
Day.
| IF. A. Olds in Auburn, n. Y :, Advertiser.
RALEIGH, N. c., July 29, 1887.
In 1887 Sir Walter Raleigh sen
! John White with three vessels loadeC
with colonists to found a settlement OF
the coast of far away and almost un
known America. White landed OF
what is now North Carolina, and es
tablished his colony on Roanoke
Island. A short while after the de
parture of the fleet for England, leav
ing the colonists behind, a child wa:
born-the first on American soil. Tc
1t was given the name Virginia Dare
The new country SO auspiciously set
tied was named Virginia, after Eng.
lands " Virgin Queen" Elizabeth
and for the same reason the name Vlr-
ginia was given the first born. The
ColOnists, when the fleet sailed, were
busy preparing their rude homes, and
had thrown up a rough fort, after the
manner of the time, to guard against
a danger which must have seemed i'm
aginary, SO kind were the Indians who
lived in that region. The friendliness
OF the latter was SO great that they
aided the new corners in every way.
The fleet carried to England good
tidings of the settlers, ''in land well
wartered, with great abundance OF
fish and game, with grapes and fruits
as have not before been seen by Eng
lishmen."
Three years passed and then the
mystery began. 1t bad been the plan
that in little while the ships would
return and to the colonists, and their
numbers augmented by new arrivals
from England. But it was three years
before relief expidition sailed. In
1890 it reached Roanoke. Where
were the colonists? Echo only an
swered the question. The people
landed, searched the island thoroughly
but not trace was there of the lost
colony, save the outlines of the fort and
the one word "CROATAN'' rudely
carved upon the trunk of tree. There
were no Indians, and the colonists had
evidently left in body. There were
no graves, no evidences of conflict,
nothing to tell any tale of their where
abouts. The word "Croatan was
more than meaningless. The ships
finally sailed away with this awful story
of the unknown.
For three centuries on both sides Of
the water, the most melancholy inter-
est has been. attached to what came to
be known as 'the lost colony of Roam
oke," an interest which but deepened
as the years passed.
x * *
Now where and what was Croatan
1t was in Tyrrel county, on the North
Carolina mainland, and across the
sound from Roanoke. 1t was there
the white people went, no doubt at
the special request of Indian friends,
who promised them a more generous
land.
To bridge, in one sentence, the space
of three centuries of time, the county
of Robson must be visited, for there
rests the other end of the mystery of
1887. The Croatans are in Robson.
AS the descendants of those old Croa-
tans, whose name was the one link in
a chain otherwise lost, and as the de-
sCendents also of the lost colonists OF
Sir Walter Raleigh's i'll fated expedi-
ton, they can Justly lay claim to more
of romance than any other people on
this continent.
During the recent session of the:
North Carolina legislature, a member
from Robson county, Mr.. Hamilton
Mcmillan, started thought in a new
channel by asking for special aid for the
Croatan Indians. He declared that a
great injustice had been done them in
that they had been classed as negroes.
He claimed that they were Indians, of
high class, and of historic name and
fame, and that they desired and de-
served separate schools and special aid.
Three hundred years after the colony
of White was lost, the descendants OF
those 'colonists petition the Legislature
for aid in educating their teaChers-a
Legislature sitting in city named after
Raleigh, the patron of the colony.
The legislature has hardened to the
matter and has granted separate
schools and special aid for normal
schools to the Croatans, meanwhile
restoring them to their proper position
as Indians and as citizens.
Thus the two ends of the chain were
picked up. 1t now remains to dis
cover the link between. To do this a
visit to the Croatans became necessary
and in Mr.. McMillan's company it
was made. The county of Robson
lies on the States Southern border,